Meeting a new family and more awesome CME

We got to meet a family from one of our Angelman email lists today who live in the area. The similarities between Nicholas, who is 7, and Jack were amazing. It was great to see what things he'd learned in his seven years and be hopeful for what Jack might learn in the future. Here's a short video of Nicholas and Jack playing in the grass, and a few pictures of them.

Jack is doing amazing things!

Ramon got Jack to do some really amazing things today. Besides sleeping well and not screaming through the whole therapy session, which are also amazing improvements, Jack has tolerated standing and "walking" with just support on his ankles. Here's one video from our early session today. You can't see it through the whole video but Jack is walking on two boards turned sideways that have a width of about 3/4" each!!

Toronto is going well

Jack's first therapy session with Ramon went amazingly. He didn't get upset at all and Ramon was great. He was so energetic and happy. He was so great with Jack. In bewteen the first and second sessions, we went to a semi-accessible playground I saw on our way to the therapy office. The playground had partially paved paths, but there were wood chips around the actual playscape. Jack enjoyed a slide for the first time by himself (without me holding him) and a swing, which he always loves. Here are videos of Jack having a good time.







sorry this one's sideways, I couldn't find a way to make it rotate and keep the whole video.

Toronto at last!

We've arrived in Toronto, safe and sound. We're in the same hotel we stayed at for the other two trips so it feels a bit familiar. It is pretty lonely though without another adult, I have to say! After we got in and had a snack, Jack "walked" with me outside of our sliding glass door, then back in. (I held his hands and shifted his weight for him.) Here's a picture of him standing and noticing the camera. Notice he's standing straight with me just holding one arm!!

Off to Toronto again

We're a little more than half way to Toronto today. We're going up for our third intensive session of CME therapy. Our first trip was just about one year ago and Jack has made HUGE progress since that visit. Before we went on that trip, Jack couldn't even sit up by himself. Now he can not only sit by himself but he can get from lying to sitting, and he can stand with just hand support. We'll be driving to Toronto today and starting the therapy tomorrow. So far the trip is going smoothly, Jack actually slept for about 7 hours last night (a record for him away from home) and he seems pretty happy and laid back! I think maybe he's getting used to being away from home more. Here's a picture of him last night in the big armchair in our hotel room.

Pond Thing

This past week, I walked down to the pond close to our apartment one day. And I saw the weirdest thing I've ever seen in a pond. It was some sort of large plant, floating in the pond, not attached to anything. The leaves were curled up so I couldn't tell what they looked like but the stem or trunk of this huge plant was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I felt like I was seeing an alien. Here are pictures I took when I showed Jack and Shippee the weird plant:




















After about an hour of searching on the internet that night, I found out what the mysterious plant was: it was water lilies! The huge trunk-like structure is the water lilies' rhizome, a root structure that usually stays on the bottom of the pond. For some reason this one had become dislodged.


On another pond-related note, here are some pictures of the 2nd baby turtle we found on our living room floor one day a few weeks ago: